642 Glenferrie Road, HawthornA new Chinese salad and dessert bar signed a five-year deal with a five-year option over the 50sqm building at $50,000pa net.

393 Swanston Street, MelbourneEzyMart will open its tenth convenience store in the CBD, leasing the 70sqm space at the bottom of a new Scape student accommodation building for which it will pay $4,800/sqm.

396 Lygon Street, Brunswick EastA new hospitality venue will open up from the 333sqm corner building, formerly the long-term home of fabric retailer Clegs. It was leased at $95,000pa.

213 Maroondah Highway, HealesvilleFamily-owned Creswick Natural Fibres will open a new shop in the refurbished 278sqm space. It signed a five-year lease at around $100,000pa.

12-14 Johnson Street, OakleighThe 892sqm Commercial 1-zoned corner site metres from Oakleigh train station sold for $3.5 million to a developer. It has four shops with a combined building area of 534sqm, and development potential for a building of five levels.

1 Exley Drive, MoorabbinThe 565sqm warehouse and showroom building is leased to Beds for Backs, and is on an Activity Centre Zone (Schedule 3) site that sold to an apartment developer for $1.5 million.

46 Winterton Road, ClaytonJardan Furniture acquired the 1,608sqm office and warehouse building for $2.55 million. It is on a 2,145 sqm site with 12 on-site parking spaces and drop-off area.

Zagame family takes Abbotsford office block: Sales activity in Melbourne’s popular city fringe commercial market has kicked off for 2019, with the Zagame family’s acquisition of a recently rezoned Abbotsford land parcel of 4,735 sqm for $21 million.

Fitzroys agents Paul Burns and James Lockwood negotiated the sale of 112 Trenerry Crescent on behalf of the Australian Education Union (Victorian Branch) following an expressions of interest campaign that attracted interest from local and international parties looking to jump into the booming suburb.

The site has an existing four-level brick building with a net lettable area of 4,252sqm, with Yarra River frontage overlooking both Dights falls and Victoria Park, in addition to having views of the CBD skyline.

Burns said 15 offers were received from a mix of local and offshore bidders, predominantly made up of developers, with some partial owner occupiers.

“Bidders had schemes for a mix of office and residential uses for the property, looking to take advantage of the property's recent rezoning to Mixed Use" he said

The AEU had previously used the building as their Victorian headquarters for many years, and held onto the property following their relocation until the rezoning was formalised.

The existing building will be refurbished, upgraded and marketed for lease.

“Office vacancies across Melbourne’s city fringe have been tightening to historic lows and businesses are increasingly looking to Abbotsford as the next hotspot for commercial activity,” Burns said.

Lockwood said developers are now looking to Abbotsford in addition to the busy Cremorne and Richmond markets for their next projects.

Cadence Property Group has lodged plans for a major office development on Victoria Crescent, near the Carlton and United Brewery, and Salta Property Group is undertaking a mixed-use project with office, apartment and build-to-rent components next to its Victoria Gardens shopping centre.